Now, as the night approached, Rowan and his crew's group training halted. After finishing the dinner, the crew members dispersed to their rooms to end the day.
Rowan and Carina were seen sitting at the deck with a lamp lying on top of the table, discussing.
"So the Log Pose needle is pointing up." Rowan recapped as Carina held out the Log Pose strapped onto her wrist.
"There must be a way to reach there. After all, not all ships can fly." Carina said thoughtfully. "Perhaps a current like the one in the Reverse Mountain?"
The circumstance for him was quite tricky right now.
With him and his crew's reputation, it is without a doubt that they will soon be bombarded with an influx of enemies, and they may be as potent as Baten.
Due to this fact, Rowan wanted to avoid a prolonged stay on one island. However, the Log Pose only directs towards an island of greater magnitude; this not only allowed the easy tracking for their enemies, but caused Rowan and his crew to approach Sabaody Archipelago, which is quite close to the Marineford, at a quick rate.
"I know that it will be impossible for us to escape or avoid them for long." Rowan muttered. "And I'm not necessarily trying to hide from them like a coward. However, we do need time to be prepared against them."
Carina nodded. "We luckily got off from the marine base G-11 simply because they didn't expect Carmen. If we continue to sail with our current state, nothing but death will await us."
"Let's say that the sky island exists. The marines probably know already. All they have to do is to wait for us at the island after the sky island." Rowan grimaced, trying to think of a way around. "What would be unpredictable?"
Carina grinned watching Rowan's dismay and placed something on the table. It was a Log Pose that was contained within an hourglass-like frame, with the word 'Alabasta' written.
"This is what we call an Eternal Pose. I didn't have enough time in the marine base G-11, so I grabbed the most familiar-looking name from the pile full of it. Basically, Eternal Pose permanently locks onto one island's magnetism. Using this, we can throw off the chasers." Carina explained.
Rowan was unsure about the idea. "This is literally gambling with our lives. Alabasta? It might as well be another marine base."
"I know a bit about the World Government. I used to live in Frauce Kingdom after all." Carina wiggled her index finger playfully, denying Rowan's claim. "Alabasta is one of the twenty kingdoms that founded the World Government, and no marine base is said to be situated in those twenty kingdoms, since they all possess the armed forces that are sufficient to protect the country."
Rowan was in thought, looking for any flaw behind Carina's words. "Do you know how long our travel will take, or in which direction we will be traveling specifically?"
Carina shook her head with a bright smile, "In terms of time, nope! I honestly got no idea. However, figuring out an approximate direction is not hard. When the sun rises, a stick will be enough for me to determine it!"
'Sky island or Alabasta.' Rowan weighed both options. 'The first option, sky island. We have no idea how to get there. Like what, give Prominence large-ass wings? The second option, Alabasta. A gamble, but so is sailing in the Grand Line. Sailing through the sea sounds better than sailing through the sky.'
"Let me guess, you are going to say Alabasta."
"Alabasta it is." Rowan finally made a decision, before becoming dumbfounded at Carina's statement.
Carina made a cheeky smile as she leaned her face into her hands. "I just know you well enough."
"You surely do." Rowan chuckled. "Oh yeah, do you mind if I borrow that Seastone cuff you brought?"
Carina quirked her eyebrow, "What for?"
"I want to see if it's possible to build resistance against the Seastone." Rowan said seriously. "If this works out, it will help me a lot in the future."
Rowan gritted his teeth as he reminisced over Rambo and his Kneel pirates, whom he lost due to his carelessness. He can't predict the future, but he won't let his crew mates die because of him losing competency for a reason as dumb as a Seastone, ever again.
"Well," Carina lifted her hand up and pointed downward to the deck they were stepping on, "in our storage room, there's like two more of those. Suit yourself."
______________
The night has passed by, and all the crew members of the Grimheart pirates gathered in the dining room, waiting for Carmen's meal once more.
Sitting on his favorite chair among all, Cavendish looked around in confusion. "Where is captain?"
Dan rubbed his head, "I don't know either."
Carina shrugged before standing up, "I'll go check on him. Weird though, I've never seen him oversleep before."
Walking down the stairs, Carina reached Rowan's room and knocked, only to hear Rowan weakly muttering "Help..." behind the door.
Carina twisted the doorknob and opened the door immediately, only to sight Rowan lying on his bed helplessly, with a Seastone cuff laid on top of him.
"I... can't... move..." Rowan barely managed to voice out as Carina covered her mouth and her cheeks puffed up, trying to prevent herself from bursting out a laughter.
"Hahahaha!!!" Failing to hold it in, Carina fell on her back as she laughed uncontrollably.
Hearing the commotion, the other members of the crew all ran to Rowan and Carina, and witnessed the scene themselves.
"Hahaha, what are you doing captain?!" Cavendish laughed with tears while holding his stomach.
Dan immediately rushed to Rowan, checking for any abnormality. "Err... check, check, and check, don't find anything wrong." Without a further ado, he lifted up the Seastone cuff from Rowan, causing him to inhale deeply and jolt up from the bed.
Alfred shook his head, "I see what captain Rowan is attempting to do here. Building Seastone resistance is a very gruesome training; one requires a strong will to persist through this torture."
"Neigh~!!" Farul nodded his long neck after hearing Alfred's statement.
Immediately after, Rowan stood up urgently and rushed to the bathroom, causing the others to sweatdrop.
"Seems like we barely made in time." Carina commented, and the others nodded in agreement.
After a moment, everyone was back in the dining room as Carmen served the dishes, oblivious of what just happened.
"*Munch* *Munch* So Seastone resistance building? That works?" After listening to the recap told by Cavendish, who loved an attention to himself, Carmen asked Rowan with a curiosity.
Rowan shrugged with his plate already empty, "I don't know. But if I ignore the fact that I lose a control of my body, it serves as a great tool for a sleep. Close my eyes, and bam, it's the morning. Issue is, you have to wait for someone to come and help you."
Carmen stopped munching onto her food and leaned away from Rowan fearfully, "Could it be that you are a masochist, captain? How can any devil fruit user enjoy even a slight sensation of the Seastone?!"
"If I may speak," Alfred calmly raised his hand up after wiping his mouth clean with a napkin provided, "in the past, I've witnessed a very powerful devil fruit user swimming. Building a Seastone resistance may not be impossible."
"Swim??!" Rowan's eyes sparkled as he heard that. Prominence pulls up the seawater from the bottom of the ship and heats it up for the crew to use it for various means; Rowan hated how the shower, in which he used to love, became an arduous task for him. "Carmen, doesn't this sound awesome? We won't have to suffer anymore, after the sufficient resistance has been built up!!"
Carmen crossed her arms and turned her head away in refusal. "The fiery property grants me a cleanness 24/7. I don't need myself to be accustomed with Seastone!!"
Cavendish, who seemingly finished his meal just now, perked up with a lightbulb glowing on top of his head, as if he realized something, "What would happen if you guys drink seawater?"
"Umm..." Dan stared at Cavendish with his eyes squinted, "I'm sorry to say this, but that was quite dumb Cavendish. Regardless of whether a person is a devil fruit user or not, he or she will suffer from dehydration after drinking seawater. Never ever drink seawater, okay?"
"Well, there is the answer," Rowan replied, "no one would be dumb enough to drink seawater, so we won't know the result. If such a person exists, that person will probably die before ever encountering a single devil fruit in his or her entire life."
Cavendish growled with a tick mark on his face, but averted his eyes in an embarrassment.
Watching as the crew members were chatting with one another while finishing up her breakfast, Carina placed the utensils down and took out the Eternal Log Pose. "Well, that's enough talk for now. Why don't we move into more urgent matter?"
"Oh, an Eternal Pose?" Cavendish exclaimed in a curiosity, before his eyes widened as he read the words scripted on the wooden frame of the Eternal Pose. "Hmm? Alabasta?!!"
""Eternal Pose?"" Carmen and Dan simultaneously said cluelessly, before Carmen turned to Dan and growled for a matching phrase, causing the latter to sweatdrop.
"Alabasta, an ancient kingdom, currently ruled by the wise king, Nefertari Cobra." Alfred's monocle flashed as he stared at the Eternal Pose in interest.
Carina was seen crouching down on the ground, holding up a stick on one hand and placing a rock on the spot where the shadow of the stick landed. "It may be off a little bit, but judging by the Eternal Pose and this work of mine, the direction of Alabasta from here is north-west. One the other hand, the Log Pose that points up towards the sky is eastward."
Rowan momentarily stared at the Eternal Pose before opening his mouth, "Carina and I had some discussion yesterday night. Getting to sky island will be difficult at the current moment. We either stay here until we find some clue to get there, or we try to get Prominence to fly up. Yeah, how will a ship as large as Prominence fly without any special ability?
Therefore, I decided to change our destination to Alabasta. First, this is the only other option we have apart from the sky island. Second, our pursuers will be thrown off by our sudden change of course; how will they know which Eternal Pose we have in our hands? Last, traveling by Log Pose will result in us arriving Sabaody Archipelago very quick. I don't wish an early arrival to the island, but prepare ourselves for around two to three years in prior."
Dan stood up with excitement, clenching his hands tightly. "Alabasta kingdom, here I come!!"
"Haha, I hope I don't get the princess of the Alabasta kingdom to fall for my handsomeness!" Cavendish posed dramatically.
"Alabasta kingdom?" Carmen seemed to have remembered something, "Yes, I've definitely heard of the place! Some unique spices were from that place after all!"
"Seems like you guys are fine with it. Good." Rowan gave off a serious demeanour and charismatically spoke, "We will spend one more day here to ensure that Prominence is fully ready to go. Expect for a long and rough journey that may last over months, for we are going off the course of the 7th route."
"""""Yes, captain!!""""" Everyone replied with a joy in their face, ready for their next journey.
"Neigh~!!" Farul cried along with a joy of his own.